Obituary: Nigel Kent-Lemon
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Your support makes all the difference.NIGEL KENT-LEMON was the outstanding analyst of casino gambling in Britain, with an international reputation for good judgement and independent thinking. In style, he was quiet, humorous and always unassuming, despite an encyclopaedic knowledge of gambling and all the personalities who ran it, world-wide.
His expertise extended beyond casinos, where he had first-hand experience as managing director of Coral's operation in London and later formed his own casino group, City Clubs Limited, which included Maxim's in Kensington, London. He was also closely involved in horse-racing. From 1991 he was chairman of Lingfield Park racecourse in Surrey, and was an enthusiastic supporter of Sunday and all-weather racing. He was thrilled to be invited earlier this year to join the Tote Board, where he saw an opportunity of helping the sport he knew from the inside.
Kent-Lemon was not at all typical of the casino owners and managers he knew so well. He trained as an accountant, but he became fascinated by the network of economic enterprise which casinos represent in the modern world.
He spent a period in management consultancy before joining Coral's Casinos in 1973, aged 27. He set up a chain of provincial casinos, in Bournemouth, Plymouth, Manchester, Liverpool and Brighton. In 1978 he became deputy managing director of Coral's London casino operation, with responsibility for two of the most celebrated casinos in Mayfair, Crockford's and the Palm Beach.
When most of the Coral casinos were acquired by Lonrho in 1980, Kent- Lemon left to start his own consultancy, N.K.L. Services Limited. So many people in the gaming industry in Britain and abroad sought his advice that this project proved almost too successful, in terms of the amount of work he had to put in. In my experience as a journalist, I found his judgements, without exception, correct.
Although he wrote sparingly he made regular contributions to the international conferences organised by the University of Nevada. In Britain he was an active member of the Society for the Study of Gambling.
In 1990 Kent-Lemon ventured into casinos on his own account, as chairman of City Clubs Limited, which bought Maxim's and later purchased two other London casinos, Chester's in Soho and the Golden Horseshoe in Queensway. At Maxim's he was wrily amused at the extravagant style of the late Robert Maxwell, who made a great noise and liked to play two roulette tables at the same time.
During the course of Kent-Lemon's management, these three casinos were remodelled and enhanced. As a result the original investment of pounds 24m was realised for pounds 50m when they were sold to Ladbroke's in September 1994.
He travelled widely to consult on casino projects and frequently visited the United States, where he served as co-chairman of the Institute of the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming in Reno and was a visiting senior lecturer in Gaming Management at the University of Nevada.
His flair for public speaking combined with his open-minded and well- informed background made him a popular speaker and lecturer. Whenever the initials N.K.L were listed at a conference or seminar, the audience knew it was in for a master-class.
Through his support of GamCare, a charity formed to help problem gamblers in Britain, he also took a lead in encouraging the gaming industry to accept a measure of responsibility on the social welfare side of the business.
Above all, in a semi-academic role, he made an invaluable contribution in helping to train up-and-coming recruits to the industry. He believed that raising the standard of management in the casino industry was the key to its future success. He made a start on this work as chairman of the Centre for the Study of Gambling at Salford University, which opened in 1995.
Though in his working life Kent-Lemon studied the green baize of the gaming tables, in his private life he liked the greensward of the country, in pursuits such as shooting and stalking, and also golf. He was blessed with a happy marriage. Despite his unexpected heart trouble, he felt that he had been privileged to lead a full life and had done everything he wanted. His only wish was to see his two teenage sons grow up.
David Spanier
Nigel William Kent-Lemon, casino consultant: born Southborough, Kent 12 October 1946; married Zelda Dobbs (two sons); died Harefield, Middlesex 11 December 1998.
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